BLOGGE(RED) Day 11

Tues. Morning meeting. Ward round with Dr Masange. Saw 2 new malaria presentations with headache, fever, very obvious hepatosplenomegaly. One of these patients also had ascites and an ejection systolic murmur. Not sure of the cause though. Very interesting. Both had been given metokeflin (SP) which has a lot of resistance problems in this area, but patients self prescribe and purchase from dispensaries, hence its ineffectiveness. One patient was on IV quinine, the other still querying diagnosis, awaiting blood film results. Short round today, not many patients as most discharged over weekend.

Rest of the morning spent studying oxford handbook. Then took a bus (very cramped) to Tanga. The bus operators are only concerned about maximising revenue in each trip and they will squish as many people in a row of seats as they can, so we are stuck in a tight spot next to sweaty smelly people. For an hour. From the bus stop in Tanga we took a taxi to the supermarket, the taxi fare to travel 2km cost the same as the bus fare that took us 40km!!
In Tanga had our internet fix, then spent lots of money buying "mzungu" (foreigner) supplies from the mzungu supermarket - instant noodles, strawberry jam, oreos, kit kats, chocolate chip cookies! Headed to Mkonge hotel to chill with a drink overlooking the lake, a beautiful sight. Should have taken photo. Watched football on TV inside for a bit. For interest, I think I've been bitten by something... what do you think these are caused by?

Went for pizza like last week. Was delicious. 4 flavoured pizza: beef eater, vegetarian, fungi and chicken. With a side of chips and pineapple juice. A bit of confusion with the taxi driver later, the guy we called wasn't the guy who came, even though he said he'd come, he ended up sending a friend without telling us. Weird. Expensive and bumpy ride home.